Family of slain Border Patrol agent sues officials over 'Fast and Furious' operation

This undated file photo provided by U.S. Customs and Border Protection shows U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian A. Terry. Terry was fatally shot north of the Arizona-Mexico border while trying to catch bandits who target illegal immigrants.

By Jacques Billeaud, The Associated Press

The family of a slain Border Patrol agent has sued federal officials over the "Fast and Furious" gun operation.

Agent Brian Terry was mortally wounded on Dec. 14, 2010, in a firefight north of the Arizona-Mexico border between U.S. agents and five men who had sneaked into the country to rob marijuana smugglers.

Federal authorities conducting "Fast and Furious" have faced tough criticism. In an attempt to trace the guns, they allowed suspected straw gun buyers for a smuggling ring to walk away from gun shops in Arizona with weapons, rather than make arrests and seize the guns.

The lawsuit filed Thursday and made publicly available on Friday came from Terry's parents. It targeted six managers and investigators for the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

The family also sued a federal prosecutor who had previously handled the case but is no longer on it, and the owner of the gun store where two rifles found in the firefight's aftermath were bought.

The family alleges that the ATF officials and federal prosecutor created a risk to law enforcement officers such as Terry and that the firearms agents should have known their actions would lead to injuries and deaths to civilians and police officers in America and Mexico.

The family also alleged that firearms agents and the prosecutor sought to cover up the link between Terry's death and the botched gun smuggling investigation.

The "Fast and Furious" operation was launched in 2009 to catch trafficking kingpins, but agents lost track of about 1,400 of the more than 2,000 weapons involved.

Authorities say the ring was believed to have supplied the Sinaloa cartel with guns. Mexico's drug cartels often seek out guns in the U.S. because gun laws in Mexico are more restrictive than in the U.S.

Some guns purchased by the ring were later found at crime scenes in Mexico and the United States.

The probe's failures were revealed — and later examined in congressional inquiries.